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About the author

Dr. Carol E. Bouzoukis is a Child Drama Specialist with twenty-five years of experience encouraging children's creativity. Dr. Bouzoukis holds a Ph.D. from New York University in Educational Theatre and Dramatherapy. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina. She is the Executive Director and Founder of Child Drama Workshops, Ltd., an interactive theatre arts enrichment program for children ages three to nine. She also maintains a private psychotherapy practice, Play Therapy Delaware, specializing in Play Therapy and Dramatherapy for children. Her first book, Pediatric Dramatherapy: They Couldn't Run So They Learned to Fly, earned international recognition.

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iPads, iPhones, Notebooks, X-Boxes, PlayStations, Televisions, Computers. They've found their way into every corner of our lives. Add to that, the pressures of the modern education with standardized tests and crowded classrooms, and it seems that our children have lost the simplicity of childhood. Are our children losing their imagination, too? Carol Bouzoukis gives us just the remedy.Encouraging Your Child's Imagination: A Guide and Stories for Playacting is an easy-to-use guide to creating simple dramas with young children. This innovative "how-to" book is written especially for parents, daycare providers, librarians, educators, and youth leaders who want to not only encourage their child's imagination but enhance their self-esteem and joy of learning. Dr. Bouzoukis recounts nine familiar children's stories for reading aloud and presenting to our children. By following the tips and using the sample questions, anyone can create a story drama in their living room, garage, Sunday school class or community center. Each story includes an analysis that adds insight into the creative process and reminds parents how simple and care-free it is to let our imaginations turn us into wolves, gingerbread boys, trees, and rivers. less

Foreword by Maria LaRosaAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Imagination is the KeyChapter 1: The Story Drama MethodChapter 2: The Wolf and the Seven KidsChapter 3: The Gingerbread ManChapter 4: Little Red Riding HoodChapter 5: The Boy Who Cried WolfChapter 6: Jack and the BeanstalkChapter 7: The Lion and the MouseChapter 8: Hansel and GretelChapter 9: The Three Little PigsChapter 10: The Pot That Would Not Stop BoilingChapter 11: Imagination: Practice for LivingAppendix A: Suggested Stories for the Story Drama MethodAppendix B: Accessories/PropsAppendix C: Theater Games and Warm-upsAppendix D: Drama with Special-Needs ChildrenBibliographyFurther ReadingIndexAbout the Author

In the press

Carol Bouzoukis, a child drama specialist with 25 years of experience, has developed a way to take children's natural affinity for play acting and use it to further their all-around development.

When children use their imagination, they can work through many things, says Bouzoukis, author of Encouraging Your Child's Imagination: A Guide and Stories for Play Acting (Rowman & Littlefield). "It can be therapeutic, they can work out scenarios. They act that through and find resolution, even if only in play."

Bouzoukis says that how children play has changed dramatically over the years. Now it's often with a screen (television, computers, Xboxes) — methods of entertainment that lack human interaction. Play, or play acting, can fill that void.

In her book, she explains her Story Drama Method and shows parents, as well as teachers or caregivers, how to polish their skills so they can lead the children. The book also includes nine stories that can be acted out, and guidelines for each.